The Ultimate Terror, Part One.
Team Titan Think Tank Issue 42. "The Ultimate Terror", (Part 1.) Front cover- The Think Tank come at the reader with dramatic poses! Yu is appearing out of mid-telpeort, guan-do slashing through the air, the other main team members with him in a line. Reb in Great Briton form flies at the reader on Yu's left, blasting a White Beam from his chest, Cain flies, breathing out Promethean Fire from his mouth, whilst Mr Pscyhic runs slightly behind them surrounded in pink energy. On Yu's right is Sonne, flying at the reader, fists out, Atomic, ash floating around and behind her, launchers pointed towards the reader. Behind them, Tops, Kaan'Qsst and Damage Control tower above them, running behind them. Iron Jack rockets through the air in the background, and Samuel T Gunn, flying Lightning the Super Car, and Biohazard and behind them, a mass of tiny flying, black costumed forms... The issue opens with the team stood around Fraud, as he sits on his knees, with his hands behind the back of his head, around them in a circle can be seen the Militia. "Somebody kick his head in!" shouts a militia member "I volunteer!" "I'll help!" yells a flying one. And so on. Kaan'Qsst looks down at Fraud. "I do believe that is what you were afraid of, yes?" Fraud nods his head, as Sonne hovers above, sitll pointing the energy beam at him, keeping his mouth closed. "One fight to another... that certainly escalated", Mr Psychic comments. Reb runs to Atomic. "You okay, Dr Toni....?" He is most saddened She doesn't look up at him "Everyone's free now, r...right?" "I think so...but you're hurt even more..." Yu staggers back from Fraud as his control is released, sweat running down his temples and panting for breath. "We are free" says Kaan'Qsst with certainty. "Good..." says Atomic. "You have made a severe mistake, Fraud" says Kaan'Qsst. And then he smashes Fraud across the face. Fraud collapses. "You can't keep doing this Atomic...you going to..." Reb's lip trembles. Yu speaks between gasps for breath. "Kaan...'Qsst...that's enough..." "You have made yourself no better than Blitzkrieg" says Kaan'Qsst down to Fraud's unmoving body, holding up his knuckles. He looks to Yu. "Just keeping what remains of my men in order." Yu nods tiredly. "Lead them." "If you are referring to the Militia" he looks to them "I have no cause to do so. I simply made use of what Fraud had. My only man remains at my side." He looks to Bio-Luminal. "And there is Null of course." He gives Null a nod. "You have alas chased away the others." "Reb... its... its all right... don't worry, we've got work to do." She looks up at him...and the strange ashlike distortion has spread across the same side of her face as the missing arm, almost giving the effect of a half-mask. "We've...we've got work to do." A Militia-man flies down, a man made of golden light. He lands in the middle of the group, light form turning back to show the typical black, helemlted, gas mask wearing militia costume. "I was General of the Titan City army... I will be taking command of the Militia for now... not that all of them are army. For now, they should follow me" he says to Yu. He jabs a finger towards Kaan'Qsst. "This... creature, was willing to let Fraud continue to control us, to fuflfil some kind of plan we weren't privy to, to gather a greater army. You should lock all iof these scum in a cell." Yu listens in silence, slowly calming his breath. When the man finishes, he speaks. "What is your name?" "General Jeremy Hardwell, sir. Sorry, uh, Blitzkrieg didn't bother to give us monikers to go with these powers." The man takes off his gas mask and helmet. He appears to be about mid-forties, black hair turning grey, faded, very old scars in miniature upon an otherwise relatively handsome face "I...if you don't want the powers he forced on you, I...I can take them away again. A...any of you. If you want that..." "I do believe that would be the case for most of us. But what with Blitzkrieg's long control, followed by Fraud's brief display, we have not had time to discuss. But yes, i would be accompanied by a fair few angry young men and women right now. And a few old timers. I'd say the main consensus for now, would be to get our city back where it belongs." There are many speech bubbles in the background concurring this line of thought. "Ok...I will try and get something set up...so that you can come and get them taken away, when and if you want them to be...but I am not making anybody lose them...or keep them. It's your choices alone. You...you've not had enough of a chance to make your own decisions, for a long time." Yu listens to Atomic, nodding slightly. "Very well, I will disseminate this among the men. Thank you", says the General. The General turns into a form of golden light once again and flies up into the air. Reb seems to hold his chest a bit and looks to be out of breath, and a very tiny wheeze. "General, before you go..." The General flies back down a little "Yes, Titan?" "My name is Yu, Master of Arms, and this is the Think Tank, the squad gathered to end Blitzkrieg's reign." He gestures to the others. "I can understand you and your men's anger: I was under his control, briefly. And I can understand your anger towards Kaan'Qsst. But, before you go, you should understand why this person has done the things he has done." He glances towards Kaan'Qsst. "Go on." he looks at Yu rather than Kaan'Qsst. Yu waits for just a moment, to see if Kaan'Qsst will speak for himself, before pressing on. "This person has lost his entire race to another, a merciless army: the Kraan. He seeks justice for this, and will do anything to this end. Furthermore, the Kraan are approaching Earth. He is driven, General. His taking control of you and your men was not senseless, or for personal power." "I remember this guy trying to kill the Mega Heroes when I was a kid. One of those selfsame aliens was on that team. Still is, if he isn't dead. What was his excuse then, thirty years ago?" He still refuses to look at Kaan'Qsst "My people were not dead then, but they were dying. Because they would not act. Would not fight. I chose to fight a war. One being. To fight a war, sacrifices must be made. You, a General of many men yourself, know this " Kaan'Qsst says. "As simply one lone soldier, my sacrifices were simply greater, my choices less moral, than the ones you would make. I do not ask your forgiveness. I need none. All I need is to see the Kraan crushed. And I am sure, when they come to invade your planet, you will feel the same." "One alien invader kind of looks like another" The General retorts, not remotely smiling, and flies back to his men. Yu watches The General leave, seeming to understand his response. "That...Bastion may be more willing to help you, remember." "Heh. If the Bastion has not already fallen" says Kaan'Qsst Yu shrugs. "I am sure that it is worth trying." He glances towards Sonne. "Yu....now is not the time to be a...asking them things l...like this. Give them time. They have j...just lost four years of their lives...likely d...done things they cannot do, seen sights that...give...give them time." "If the Bastion has fallen, then you would know about it. Even here", Sonne says. Yu nods towards Atomic as she finishes. "Of course, you are right." Reb wheezes "But they got what they hoped for...the world is not so dark to them...someone saved them." He smiles, his hand on his chest. "It's good to see," Tommy Gunn claps his hand onces. "Speaking of saving the world... what about the remaining threats? We about ready to send the city back?" Yu nods. "We are." "Provided nobody else attempts to stage another attack", says Mr Psychic. "We need to catch me first," Reb wheezes "my other self and brother. Must send him back," "That's easy for Yu to say. He's been gunning for it all this while." "Right yeah... Black Nightmare..." Gunn looks at Reb "you're Steve and Waterstone's son, right?... so how is Maxwell Phear, or whatever Lovecraftian wet dream he turned into, also your brother?" Gunn says to Reb. "I'm not actually real," Reb wheezes. "I'm just a construct of the collective hope here," he sighs. "The Battling Briton allowed me to form a suitable being to go with you...and I rather liked Reb." He smiles "I forgot what i was." Reb wheezes holding on to his chest. Yu watches Reb in a respectful silence."Fear and I were once one being, Hope and Fear opposites in one form, until that day when we split utterly." Atomic moves over to Kaan'Qsst. "So... you really mean to fight for this planet?" "Do not mistake my motives for fighting for your planet. Will i fight on ''your planet, yes. But simply because it will be their next point of invasion. The battle ground. The ''final ''battleground" Kaan'Qsst says to Atomic in the background. "I know. Nothing...nothing is as black and white as it seems. But I...or more accurately, Wrench...knows more a...about you than you know about me..." "When" Reb wheezes a tad harder "When i almost died after Whale was defeated, I awoke from the sweet dream of being Reb and remebered what I was...and becaume Great Briton," Biohazard bends down to Reb. "Here is me complaining about what I was turned into... and here you are, listening to it, knowing you're not even human... I'm sorry, kid. For what its worth... you do your dad proud. Every second." "Yeah well. I hope he accepts me," he wheezes. "I'm sort of a lie...and I lied to him and twisted his memories and well," he smiles to Biohazard. "Surely when i turned into that weird thing with the tophat someone questioned if i was really a little boy," he laughs inbetween wheezes "Sorry, missed that bit", Biohazard says. "Oh yeah...sorry" he wheezes "Sounds as if you were trying to become me, young man", Mr Psychic says to Reb. "I...I'm not sure whether it is a bit of Wrench, or myself, doing this, anymore, but..." Atomic holds out a hand to Kaan'Qsst, "this...I...I invented this. To reverse engineer the BREAKER virus from...and I figure that if you fighting the Kraan means that more people survive, then that's reason enough to give you the help I can..." Reb looks to Mr Psychic and wheezes. "I was actually grabbing on to all of your personal hopes and draw them into one form that is everything you all hoped for." He clutches his chest harder. "So i was you, and Dr toni and the Gunns and everyone, sort of...and I love your hat.." Kaan'Qsst looks at what is in Atomic's hand with eyes that glow black for a moment. "A powerful weapon. Made more powerful when absorbed through my gift." He clasps two hands over hers. "Yes.. I will remember your help, Miss Stevens. You are as noble as your grandsire." "Anyway, as much as I'd love some bloody heart to heart time too... Black Nightmare. Or, whatever he is now. Anybody got a way of finding him?" Tommy says. Yu looks at Reb. "Fear lurks in the dark corners of man's domain, it finds you and festers in your heart," he wheezes "you can't search for fear...only for what makes you fearful, but he is posessing a human form, that will be helpful." "But Team Titan fear no man, do zey?" comes a booming voice from the hole where Atomic made to drop SHADE "But we know what zey fear. Who zey fear." Reb wheezes and looks to the hole. Out of the hole flies a form of black energy, which forms into a black, metallic, skeletal form with red glowing eyes. Burning at the heart of it, a swashtika/ "Ve were nothing. Dust. But... he was drawn to us. Me. I. Unt nowwwww...." He holds up the metallic hand, which sprouts claws. "...No...I...I destroyed you..." "You, sir, are a persistent thorn in our collective side!" Mr Psychic yells. The form of Blitzkrieg is much more undefined than before, smoky shadow wafting off of his body. "Yes. You are vight, of course, Mister Pinkley. Thenever Team Titan haff defeated Blitzkrieg..." A leg forms, steps onto the ground, biting clawed toes into it. He has not looked directly at anyone yet. "He haff always come back stronger.. veady to fight ze next foe..." Yu narrows his eyes and grits his teeth, staring. "But, alvays one weakness remained. Magic. The arcane." He looks at Tommy Gunn. His form suddenly transforms into the second Nano-Blitzkrieg that they fought in the Rumble Room. "Vich you used to trap me here. A master of dimensional travel, yet, stuck, like a ship in a bottle. Because of zis one thing that defies the science to which I have lived my life." He takes another step. "But zen he'' came. Took ze form of dust..." he looks at Atomic and his forms ripples again, as his form resembles that of Graham Stevens, but metallic, with a monstrous hugely open, fanged jaw, and spikes all of over."And re-made it. He thought he could take me over, like he did Phear." He looks down, at a clawed hand again, and his form returns to the mistier, undefined Blitzkrieg form. "But no. I took what he gave. What Fear gave." He looks at Reb. Reb stares back at him, clutching his chest. "Fear...Fear gives nothing. Just takes time and chances away", Atomic says. His form briefly turns to classic 1960s Blitzkrieg, a massive Reichdroid-like body with a corpse within it, but all black and shadow, then he turns to the spiky Stevens form when Atomic adresses him. "Then allow me to take your ''time." He surveys Team Titan. "If I cannot be RID of zis place, zen NEITHER SHALL YOU!" "Blitzkireg; Fear will consume your heart!" Reb wheezes. "Cast it aside before it claims you utterly," he clutches his chest "Hope can free you from fear!" "I know no fear! I AM ZE MASTER OF FEAR! ONCE, I FORMED TEAM TERROR! NOW, YOU SHALL LEARN ZE TRUE MEANING OF ZE WORD!" He gestures up with his hands "ULTIMATE TERROR IS COME!" And with that, the entire city shakes Mr Psychic, Atomic and Reb are flung to the ground (and prone) as the quake rumbles across the city. A majority of the Miltia fly down too. Kaan'Qsst is flung onto his hands and knees as well, along with Damage Control and Iron Jack. "You just don't take no for an answer, do you?" Gunn powers into the air again, using his swift movement to run a few rings around the Reichdroid himself before delivering a handy punch to the chops, fist crackling with potential energy. As Sonne looks at him, he reverts to Nano-Blitzkrieg form. The fist pounds into the metal, which seems to shape around the fist as Sonne retracts his fist, the metal seems to shape back to normal. "And you just don't have any faith in yourself. You know you cannot win... and that is vy you cannot use your little trick on me this time. You will fail. And if the Kraan don't destroy your precious Bastion, zen perhaps I will seek it, and take it for myself! For after all..." The comic reader sees a mass of small explosions echo acoross the city, as hundreds of black metal orbs are fired into the air. "It seems I have conquered zat little magic hindrance I had!" As he gestures up to the sky "And what do you all fear more, zan knowing that all your vork... was for NAUGHT!" Black energy shoots out of his finger tips, shooting into the sky. Gunn blinks around. Blitzkrieg rises into the air, as the energy shoots out of him at multiple angles, as the dark energy changes the purple 'sky' to pitch black. Blitzkrieg looks right at Atomic, this time his form becoming a metallic twsietd verison of her own. "I thank you my dear. Vithout your help, none of zis vould haff been possible." And then the reader is shown a double paged spread of the entire scene, but twiosted around into a bizarre whirling effect, as all present feel time and space twisted around them. CUT Narration- "The Former Site of Titan City, the current site of the Titan City Containment Portal. Now." The comic cuts to show the little floating set of shacks with the huge portal device that the team visited to enter Titan City in the first place, Wwhere Idol and Trailblazer man the machines. "Ohgodohgodohgod. Themachinesgoingcritical." "What?" Idol yells "I didn't trigger anything..." Traiblazer looks up at the huge purple haze shining around them. "Titan City is coming." "W-" Trailblazer runs into Idol. The comic cuts to a single paged spread as Trailblaer runs across the sea in the foreground, Idol slung over his shoulder, a trail of fire follows the two. Trailblazer is on fire and Idol as well. In the background, Titan City re-appears. Trailblazer runs onto a beach along the cornish coast, collapsing, as his metal leg braces melt (from when his legs got crushed during the original run of Tyrants), falling and depositing his friend onto the beach, burned from head to toe "OhgodDuncI'msorryDuncwakeupDunc. Hadtosaveyou." He looks back at Titan City, at the massive tidal wave coming for the Cornish coast, ahead of where the City is forcibly crashed. "How about you deal with the... urgh... tidal wave... its smaller than the last ones... piece of... cake" Trailblazer looks back to Idol. "Dunc!" The man's burned flesh is healing over. "What? You forget I regenerate or something, doofus. Tidal wave, priorities!" Trailblazer points at the melted metal leg braces. "Who is the doofus now?" "Ah." CUT We cut back to our heroes, the sky above them, now blue, though it now filling up with a vastness of metal spheres. "Velcome home, Team Titan. Enjoy your last small moments." Null looks to Kaan'Qsst. "I have an idea. We need to go back to camp. Since your little army plan is now redundant, it means we do have a remaining weapon to put to use." Kaan'Qsst nods. "Understood." "This...this is all my fault..." Atomic buries her face in her hands "If...if I hadn't..." Null looks to Atomic. "Let us not begin comparing our crimes. All that matters is what we do in the ''present. What we did, does not matter... a man now long gone taught me that... amusingly, he called himself a Titan. Though he was not always proud of the team and its actions. And his own. But still, he brought me from the brink. Made me able to help society again. The job you took over for me. We will stop this. Or we will die knowing we tried our hardest to do so. I do believe, that is being a hero." Mr Psychic reaches for his cane and looks up at Blitzkrieg, "As I said, I am growing rather tired of you." He presses a button on the cane and fires a beam of energy from it. The beam strikes Blitzkrieg, but he raises up a hand, opening it out, as the energy splits in mutliple directions as it strikes off the palm "And I you, Pinkley." Blitzkrieg changes into his classic 60's form as he locks eyes with Mr Psychic. "Well I'm rather pleased we are on the same page. Or perhaps disgusted fits better." "...You're right...both of you. We should put him on the only page he should be anymore. The pages of history", Atomic says. "Banter worthy of the Terrific Trio themselves my dear." "Ah, ze Terrific Trio.. whatever did happen to them... oh yes, zats right, I BEAT ZEM INTO ZE GROUND!" "Wrong again, old boy. I'm still here after all." A golf clap is heard from the gathered heroes, as Cain struts out from the back, standing a few feet ahead of the nearest Titan. "Impressive, Blitzkrieg... coming back from death yet again, and all that. It's a pity, really, that I'm going to have to put you through it all over again, as many times as it takes." he says, with a sickly, venomous, mocking grin. You see, my old Tyrant... before, we gave each other our chances. But the last time you lost, it was to a well-laid plan. I don't need ''those any more, Blitzkrieg. I dare say, I don't even need the team to stop you." He dips his head, mischief in his eyes, as he says "You're powerless to stop me." "Zen I shall ignore you until you prove anything more than a pathetic distraction" says Blitzkrieg, not even looking at Cain. "Then h...how about a rematch, Blitzkrieg? I proved myself more than a 'distraction' when I turned you into dust" "This isn't about singular vendettas... this is about extermination..." From off panel there is a TICK TOCK TICK TOCK noise at ground level. A large grey mist appears; a silhouetted humanoid form stands within it. "He's not lying. You aren't distracting him. He's distracting ''you." Out of the mist, steps a pair of long black boots. "Whilst his brother's army of clones escape in those spheres, and a few keep you busy, he's gonna blow the whole city to pieces." The comic cuts to show Director Waterstone, her sunglasses off, where eyeballs should be, there are just balls of mist. As the mist behind her sucks into her eyes and disappears and she dons the glasses She looks to Reb. "Hi, son. Looks like we've both got some secrets to talk about." End of issue.